County firefighters take FEMA workshop

CLEARLAKE -- Imagine a powerful earthquake rocking your community. It damages the hospital ? patients need to be evacuated. A roof collapses at a supermarket. There are reports that some people are trapped inside their mobile homes.

There are injuries, maybe even fatalities. Debris is blocking roads. Rescue helicopters might be flown in. Power and water suppliers are on alert.

This was one of several scenarios that a dozen Lake County firefighters considered at a workshop for emergency response personnel on Monday at the Lake County Fire District offices in Clearlake.

The two-day meeting is the fourth and final class in a series designed to put everyone on the same page in the event of a major disaster that affects a community, county, state or even a large part of the country.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, came up with a structural plan that makes it easier for all disaster responders to work together.

"Katrina provided the biggest push to get the plan in motion," former fireman and workshop facilitator Austen Dow said.

From Katrina, Dow said, "They learned they needed to communicate more effectively, and as well as needing a structure to request and distribute resources."

The plan is called ICS -- Incident Command System -- and it's designed to bring harmony and efficiency to a process where lives are often hanging in the balance.

The workshop covers a disaster from all angles, including assessing, organizing, responding and communicating following an incident.

If you're in the emergency response business, Dow said, it's critical to know who is going to do what, when and how.

The more complex or widespread the disaster is, the more government agencies and emergency personnel are likely to be involved. And making efficient use of all parties can get tricky.

For firefighters, who often double as emergency medical technicians or paramedics, their work in such situations often deals more with "the operational side," Dow said. "It's usually about things like getting a person out of a vehicle."

But firefighters have to be ready for just about anything, including being the first on the scene, assessing the situation, providing medical aid, requesting resources and keeping the public informed.

"The fire department can be called for just about anything, so you have to know a little bit of everything," said Cory Smith, Lake County District firefighter and paramedic who's attending the workshop.

Rich Mellott is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 263-5636, ext. 14 or at rmellott@record-bee.com.